Stricken Dead
by Yakolev
Summary: "I can defend myself, I can think properly. I've lived for all these years and made all these walls! But it just took one guy, one personality, and a few words to bring them tumbling down faster than the walls of Jericho." Raikou, Suicune oneshot


Creeping with the grace of a belligerent Rhyperior, the tiger-like beast snarled as a branch force-fed him a couple leaves. Raikou spit them out as he shook his head, wondering what legendary beast would confine herself to such an secluded location. Their bodies were designed for running across open plains and vast fields, not being cramped up like... this!

A crude gesture of the paw before him revealed a small lake surrounded by a copse of trees. It was a very isolated location; the water sparkled, pristine, and the grass showed no marks of having ever been touched, let alone walked upon. He grimaced a little as he hesitantly put a paw on the greens, feeling the blades slowly being crushed under his weight. Cautiously, he continued, eyes darting to and fro to see if anyone, especially that _one_ individual, would come and shame him for damaging, _ransacking_ the otherwise immaculate environment.

He edged closer to the lakeside, losing some of his wariness as nothing seemed to impede his advance. A little thirsty from the trip to this location, Raikou dipped his head slightly to take a drink. The water was indeed clear, incredibly clear. It was doubtless that it was made perfect from that individual's skills… or abilities, or traits; it was hard to determine which was the right word.

As nature would have it, a feeding creature is a defenseless one. He hardly had a moment to react to the swooshing of the wind before him before he felt something powerful tackle him into the water. Screaming in surprise, Raikou breathed in not air, but water, and he struggled to put his head above water as the force, still dark and blackened, shoved him under its body. His flailing limbs managed to catch it in the gut, causing it to relent for a moment. Temporarily freed, Raikou swam for the surface of the lake, taking in a few painful gasps before being tackled underneath again.

Once again drowning, the lightning tiger literally felt his options dwindling. He couldn't negotiate because he couldn't talk in water, and he felt his strength draining by the second. Raikou always had the choice of simply giving up and drowning, but he didn't particularly feel like dying today. So, he left him with one choice, and one choice only.

He bundled together the rest of what remaining power he had and released it in an thunderous burst, electrifying the entire lake and whatever beast was drowning him. The force instantly relented, and he frantically pawed for the surface. Raikou panted and coughed the entire way back to the edge of the water, looking for the perpetrator once he situated himself on hard land. However, he already had an inkling of a feeling as to who it was.

"Suicune!" He crouched at her appearance, the apparition standing over the water where she had just tried to drown him.

The body leaped and bounded over the water in a series of fluid steps, placing her right before him in a matter of seconds. "Raikou," she said, voice unevenly critical, "Why, _why_ would you come here? Why are you even here? Why did you return?"

"Because," the tiger said abashedly, looking down as he drew circles in the mud. He felt the heat of her glare on his body, and edged out a slight, "I… I was thinking of you."

He looked up to see a glowering Suicune, a beautiful sight to him… he had to stop thinking like that! They were worlds apart now, despite having almost being a single entity not… not long ago….

"Well, I wasn't!" she barked, bringing him back into reality. "I thought you were an intruder, another one of _them_ who were after my hide! You have no idea, do you? You have no idea…." She shook her head angrily, her mane flowing smoothly with her motions.

Raikou respectfully disagreed with her, but kept his peace so that there would be less conflict than there had already been. Back then, when she _had_ treated him as an equal; when she _had_ been at his side at every waking hour, as well as those when he slept; when she _had _been that thing which made him smile at just the mere thought of it….

_Back then_, he had lived with her at this small, pretty lake, guarding her whenever she resided there. As she laid to rest in the dark of night, he had laid besides her and snuggled up close to her body. However, his eyes did not close like hers; they both knew that human hunters had an enormously high headhunt on the Aurora, as the primitive beings called her. They had finally found the cove after years and years of searching, but they had not entertained the notion that the Thunder would have also resided with the Aurora. The humans were most fearful of the Thunder, and made far less frequent efforts to pursue either that or the Aurora.

It would be funny, hilarious, even, if they had found out just how "human," as they would term it, the deities could possibly be. The broad range of emotions, love, hate, desire, enjoyment, all within a supernatural body considered to be all-knowing and impersonal. They were absolutely flawless on the outside, but the inside remained no more muddled or convoluted than that of a hopeless romanticist.

"Look at yourself, Raikou!" she said. Her paw angrily pointed towards his sopping wet fur, already gaining a thin sheet of icing from the frigid cold of the air. "What a damn mess you are. Oh yeah, sure, you were thinking of me, So the reasonable thing to do is come all the way to where I live in the _middle of the night_ and try to snoop around? Absolutely beautiful reasoning, Raikou."

He only stared down at the ground. Even though he had come bearing sorrow borne from the angst of separation, it was quickly and effortlessly, almost, beat down to nothing by the one he had used to love the most.

_Used?_ Not used, _still_. It was a shame that she didn't feel the same, though….

"Raikou, leave. Please leave me alone, Raikou." She once against gestured for him leave. "I don't want you here. I am perfectly capable of defending myself, and your presence; you just being here brings up… memories." Her voice suddenly became morose as she sighed and broke eye contact with him.

"So please leave, Raikou, for the better of the both of us. I feel terrible, and you feel terrible. I'm not even sure why you came. We've done too many things here…."

As he opened his mouth to ready a response, a slight rustling caught their immediate attention. Raikou crouched and bared his teeth at the underbrush, while Suicune crept behind him for some measure of protection. _Just like old times…_.

A few humans emerged from the brush. As they came to see not one, but two targets, their hands moved to the Pokeballs on their waist, readying them for action.

With a cry, Raikou gave them barely a chance to react. He vehemently summoned lightning from the skies, bringing it down in a booming thunder hardly feet before where the humans stood. The ground seemed to just explode before them as the electricity ravaged the earth, a crater simply forming as sheer force launched some of the perpetrators straight up into the air. Those who were fortunate enough to just be stunned by the concussion of the strike retreated as fast as their ringing ears allowed them to.

One human that was less than fortunate to have been caught in the attack struggled to get up, some bones possibly shattered from the fall. As he tried to crawl away, the thunder tiger leaped and bounced to him, pinning him under a paw. In draconian fashion, he put his face right next to the human's head and roared, louder than he had done ever before. He saw the sheer fright, the terror, etched on the human's face for his eyes were shut doubtlessly by the expectation of impending death. His arm laid limp next to some items, PokeBalls with their seals shattered, a rapier with its wooden handle kindling from the scorching lightning. Things that were hopelessly, ridiculously beyond his reach, that he had no chance in the world to recover to fight off the menace.

For a fleeting moment, the thunder tiger saw himself in that man. Hopeless, scared, remorseful. Begging for something that would never be.

With a startled jerk, Raikou lifted his paw from the human's chest and ceased his roaring. As the man quickly scampered away back into the trees, the legendary beast found himself sighing and resting on his haunches, sitting as pretty as a house-tamed Eevee. The scene smelled like dirt, grass, and smoke – a strikingly different contrast from what the lake had been hardly moments ago.

He looked behind him to Suicune, who wore a particular cross expression on her face. If she was able to fold her arms and shake her head, she would have most definitely done so.

"Raikou," she asked carefully, façade betraying no lack of anger, "what is the meaning of this?"

"They tried to attack you. I responded appropriately."

_Bullshit_. Appropriately would have simply been a show of force, a roar and a torrent of lightning from the skies into his body. This was the first time that he had forcibly engaged the hostiles, creating a mighty explosion before them and going even as far as to make physical contact with them. That wasn't appropriate; that was absolutely outrageous.

Suicune had apparently arrived at the same conclusion. "Appropriately," she said with a scoff. "Like how when I want to tell Rayquaza about how much of a prick he is, I Ice Beam him and scream at his face when he's frozen solid. Appropriately."

"Wait, look-"

"No, Raikou, _you_ look." She walked up a little and stared directly into his red pupils. "We, as sacred beings, are tasked with protecting these people, no matter what action they may take for or against us. We may have our own personal opinions, yes, but when they translate into action, there is clearly something wrong. And that is what I have witnessed here tonight. What possessed you to do that? What force or being caused you to react with such ire, such violence tonight? "

He couldn't meet her continuous glare, eyes finding refuge in the ground once again. _Why_ he had reacted so strongly he did know, but he was more caught up in something else – that human he had roared at. He was so helpless squirming there – Raikou could have ended his existence with a single swipe. The human couldn't do anything; he couldn't scream for help, grab a weapon, or even attempt to push him away. In the gist of this, however, the human hadn't tried to resist at all. With eyes closed and body limp, he had expected his death without resisting. The human had taken fate to be what it was, simple as that.

Oh, how he wished he could do that!

"Well?" a critical voice asked, dragging him back into the present. "Explain yourself!"

"What is there to explain?" he snarled back, fangs bared once more "They were going to attack you! I wanted to defend you! Is there anything else I could possibly do?" The awkward silence after his outburst more than suggested that there was much being unsaid.

Again the sharp one, Suicune picked up on his uneasiness. "Liar," she spat, staring at his recalcitrant face. "There is another reason. I have a gut feeling as to what it is, but I want to hear it straight from this -" She gestured towards him yet again, a habit Raikou had learned to get accustomed to during their time together. "This mess that we call a legendary beast and someone who I had once courted."

If there was one thing she could say that could piss him off, that was it. Small bursts of lightning formed on the outer edges of the cloud-like mane on his back as he snarled threateningly.

"Oh." He sniffed the air before looking straight back at her. "So I'm a damn mess? How am I a damned mess when a few weeks ago, after all of – _that_ -" He snarled slightly and swiped the air in frustration. "You told Arceus that you could tough it alone, that you could ward off any humans who would and could come to hunt for you. Now look at you. You're a complete mess, shivering in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and obviously scared of them. Look, you even attacked me, something that's the farthest thing from a human, and nearly _drowned_ me! Why do you think I acted so forcefully, you idiot?" Raikou asked with an incredibly uncommonly used pejorative. "Maybe because I can't _be_ here to protect you anymore so the best thing I could do is guarantee they won't come back for a hell of a long time?"

He saw the anger evaporate from her face, only to be replaced with some sort of bewilderment, or shock, or something similar; he couldn't quite put his paw on what it was. "Don't you think it's worth considering that I still give half a damn about you?" he said, almost pleadingly. "Don't you think that I didn't do this because I was angry, or because I hate them so much? No! It was because I was concerned about your safety! If you can't give me that then… then…." His voice trailed off dimly as his own expression turned to that of a beggar's, completely defying the livid, furious expression he had showed that man moments early. _If only he could see me now_.

Suicune's head drooped slightly, melancholy expression again returning with a heavy sigh. "I knew it," she said sadly. "Raikou, why do you have put me through this? Why? We have a past, and we compromised to put it beneath us, nice and buried. But every step you make, every action you take only serves to unearth what was once between us. Why Raikou, why? You only bring trouble when you come. Look at the field, and remember what it once was."

_Look at what we are now, and remember what it once was_.

"Because," he said simply, almost like a child, "I still care."

"Dammit, Raikou! That's not what I need to hear! No one gives a flying fuck about whether you care or not; no one can give even two shits about whatever burnt-up, leftover feelings you have for me! We're done, we're through! Why the hell can't you understand that, Raikou?" Suicune turned away from him, walking with much less grace than before sitting herself down once again. "Dammit to hell, Raikou…."

Despite the serious overtones of the conversation, Raikou could not help but let himself smirk – smirk for the fact that he knew one of the few chinks in the otherwise impeccable armor that Suicune wore. "I'm sorry I'm not so easy to forget, Suicune. And I'm sorry that you feel that my emotions are simply of that little worth to you… though, that isn't the case, isn't it? Somewhere down there, there is something that still cares for me, whether you like to admit it or not. Isn't that right?"

"That is most definitely not right," she said with a growl and a twitch. "Now get out of this place. _Now_."

"No," he said with a little defiance, "I think I will choose to stay."

"Leave!" Her voice gained a new form of uncertainty, wavering as heavily as the emotional rollercoaster that both she and Raikou, unbeknownst to the two of them, were riding.

"And if I don't, Suicune?"

"Then I, I…." The blue beast stammered slightly as Raikou started to edge closer towards her. She saw ever pawstep he took, all those little blades of grass that parted before him, the condensation of his heavy breath, and the contrite, oh so _contrite_, look on his face that half made her want to break and say _I'm sorry Raikou, I am!_ and tackle him and hug him and cry into his chest, losing all of her inhibition.

But she didn't. All she did was stand up, staunch position and even stauncher expression telling Raikou to back away, so that she didn't have to actually hurt him. "Raikou," she said in a warning tone, expressing growing stormier. "If you come any further towards me, I'll hurt you. I will mangle you and make sure you can never walk again. Is that what you want?"

Somehow, _somehow (damn that Raikou!)_, he knew that she was bluffing the entire time. Her will only disassociated even further as he continued to move towards her, that sickening, twisting face saying sorry, sorry, a million times over. It was the escalation of her threats, the broadening of her warnings, that he knew that she had no intentions of harming him, or anyone else; that all that was happening was her becoming more and more unstable. Because as he had said a million times, _Suicune, you wouldn't hurt a fly even if you wanted to_.

Like his opinion mattered, really.

"Is that so?"

"'Is that so', what, Raikou?" she snarled, drawing no hint of intimidation from him. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to.

"Because, Suicune," he said slowly, making sure to draw out every word, "I think that my opinion matters to you…." He put one of his paws on her gently, and looked her straight in those scarlet eyes. "… and you think so too."

She heard a grunt escape him as she brought her paw up and hit him across that face. "What the hell do you know, Raikou?" she heard herself say. "Can you honestly say that? Can you see into my head? Tell me, Raikou!"

Looking back up to his face was the worst possible mistake she could possibly have made. The pain was simply indescribable; for someone of his attitude, his personality, to stand there and look as if he had never been betrayed as badly as this. The grimace on his face, the water forming in his equally carmine eyes, and the drops which seemed to melt into the ground as the rolled off his cheeks all brought forth pangs of guilt in Suicune so hard her knees almost buckled. The waves of shame overcame her, and despite all she had said and all she had done, she raised a sky-blue paw and pressed it closely against where she had just struck him.

"Raikou…."

He bowed his head, seeming to have realized that he had shown his pained expression little too long. "I… I'm…," he said, with a little gasp. The tiger slowly stepped back, but he stepped back nonetheless in retreat. Then, he bolted away from her, as rapidly as she had ever witnessed him. One second, she saw that striped yellow hide, partly obscured by the cloud; a moment later, nothing.

In and out of her life, just like that.

"You idiot, Raikou!" she shouted, knowing that her voice would be heard by no one but the trees. "I didn't mean it! Not like that!"

But her heart, with its small quirks and even smaller inhibition, whispered traitorously into her ear that she had meant it, that she was so upset that every last muscle she had used in her body was dedicated to conveying that one message, that one solitary thing she wanted that retard to understand.

_I still care about you, Raikou._

She beat the ground furiously, grass parting to make something resembling a hole. Then she looked over to the crater that he had made moments earlier, still smoking slightly from the lightning, and found it looking much, much larger and comfortable. Suicune found enough strength in her body to pick herself up and drag herself into the hole, slight warmth passing from the earth into her body. It was like when Raikou hugged her as she slept… except he was no more. He was gone, way gone, miles away in both body and spirit.

It was this apparent, flagrantly obvious absence that allowed her to cry freely. The tears came slowly in the beginning. A drop, at first, then, a couple more. But it only took moments before a steady stream dripped down her face into the ground. Suicune began to sob, covering her face with her paws, clearly not caring about who or whatever was around her. Because dammit, there was only one thing that mattered to her.

Despite the warmth of the ground under her, she shivered as her mind began to race, race, and think of all the things she had heard about relationships and love and all of that nasty crap before. She remembered things that she had witnessed between humans, between other Pokemon, other legendaries. But there was one thing, and one thing only, that she remembered right now.

* * *

><p><em>"Suicune," the snowy-hued dragon sobbed, crying loudly as she effectively engulfed the entire legendary dog's body with her massive wings. "Suicune, why? Why?"<em>

_"Why… what, Reshiram?" she asked warily, very much wanting to free herself from the dragon's embrace but knew doing so would only exacerbate her bawling. "What's wrong?"_

_She sniffed loudly, resting her chin on her head. "What's wrong?" she sobbed with incredulity. "You saw what's wrong! I was there, and Zekrom just came up to me, and I- I don't know what happened! I felt something bubbling in my chest and then I was _right _there, snuggling my head into his chest, and the damn idiot didn't even know what the hell I was doing, or what I wanted to tell him! And everybody watched on! I know what they said, how they laughed after the meeting! Suicune, it's like they think I'm a little girl!"_

_"That's not true," she responded back in a soothing voice, attempting to calm her down. "Everybody thinks something at first; just give it time before the rumors settle. They get tired of it, Reshiram. They always do."_

_She sniffled and shifted slightly. No freedom for Suicune, but at least she was a little more comfortable. "That's not the problem though…."_

_"It isn't?"_

_"No, it isn't! Later that night, that idiot of a guy Zekrom, he… he…."_

_What would Zekrom have done? Suicune felt incredibly curious, given his typically tough, realistic, and purportedly oblivious demeanor (though she didn't trust his unawareness as far as she could throw him). "He what, Reshiram?"_

_"That dunce…." She stopped for a moment, as if she was fighting a large amount of rage down. "… that blithering IDIOT asked me why I hugged him and why I did all that weird stuff to him that day! I… I just felt…." Suicune felt a new round of tears pelt her body as the fire dragon pulled her in even closer to her chest._

_"Suicune, do you know what sucks?" she asked after taking several breaths._

_"Yes, Reshiram?"_

_"Love sucks."_

_That admission surprised Suicune a little, considering how much she time she spent talking about Zekrom (of course, the wyvern was completely oblivious to it, but everyone knew that she had her eyes definitely fixated on a certain someone). She was tempted to ask why again, but it seemed as if letting Reshiram run her course would be a little bit better of an idea._

_"It's like," she said, voice rattling, "It's like, I thought I was impervious, you know, being a legendary and all… I'm strong, I can defend myself, I can think properly. I've lived for all these years and made all these walls and defined myself! But Suicune, it just took one guy, one personality, and a few words to bring them tumbling down faster than the walls of Jericho."_

_"Go on," she said warily, feeling more and more uncomfortable with where the conversation was going._

_"That feeling that you like him, that you love him, that all you want to do is hug him and whisper into his ear just how special he is, all stems from something that he didn't intend to do," she said, hiccupping twice. "He didn't talk to you intending to break into your heart. He didn't act the way he did because he wanted entry into your life. It just happened. It just happened because you were stupid enough to let him in, to find something you found funny or nice or both, and just let it rush into your heart and fill it to the brim. That's it."_

_"But… if you let him in and if he accepts, then what?"_

_Suicune felt scared for a moment as Reshiram reared back and glared at her with blazing blue eyes. "But he didn't! He didn't even _know_, he's so thick and oblivious it's just – ugh! And all the while, all those nights, I just lie there, trying to sleep, and there's this nasty concept of 'like' and 'love' that's eating me inside out and I fall asleep crying, sobbing, wondering why I don't have the courage to tell him, wondering what will happen if he rejects me, or think of me lower than he did before. It's just…."_

_"Love sucks."_

_And Suicune sat there, drinking those words in. They were definitely true, and incredibly deep for someone who was sobbing all over her. She couldn't do anything but rub against Reshiram a bit, trying to quell her heaving chest. But unlike the snowy-white dragon, she didn't exactly share the same concerns. Raikou was an amazing partner; he had everything she was looking for, and her likewise._

_It's not like she would ever harbor the same feelings… right?_


End file.
